“Based on fewer registrations than desired by year-end and the elastic demand experienced from our price increase as of the New Year, we have rolled back our early-registration fees to $75 per Gran Fondo,” Ciclosportivo N.A. spokeswoman D’Abria Vesace explains. “For all registrants paying the increased fee as of January 1, we considered it only fair to issue them a $25 refund; the credits were processed yesterday.”

Ciclosportivo N.A. opened its Gran Fondo registration in September 2009, offering special pricing in an attempt to pre-book its events before year-end. “We have never found price leadership sexy, but we wanted to put the registration process behind us and focus on promoting world-class events,” spokeswoman Versace says. “We ended 2009 with approximately 1,000 fewer registrations than desired, so as of the New Year our marketing begins in earnest.”

In addition to employing a lower-cost strategy to approximately the next 1,000 registrants, Ciclosportivo N.A. continues to pursue strategic relations in helping create awareness of its Gran Fondo and SuperCorsa™ events; the company is currently in talks with the Rahsaan Bahati Foundation. “We are not positioned to enjoy the reach of Levi Leipheimer or the effect of Lance Armstrong being associated with the events,” D’Abria Versace says. “Where established events sell out in days ours will take months, we are currently earning riders two-wheels at a time.”

One Ciclosportivo N.A. campaign earning multiple riders at a time is its Gran Fondo Favorite 10 (GFav10) program. Named after T-Mobile’s Fav 5 campaign, GFav 10 awards free Gran Fondo entry to participants when they register 10 of their cycling acquaintances, friends and family. “Much of the euphoria experienced in riding a Gran Fondo comes from the sheer number of participants,” Versace says. “We recognize that three Gran Fondo in Colorado may be more than the market can bear, but we remain optimistic that the quality of our events will not be compromised due to a lack of participation; garnering registrants over the next 30- to 60-days is our highest priority.”

Its year-end position and unknown rider demand over the short-term has Ciclosportivo N.A. considering “what if” scenarios including the development of a cancellation provision. In short, Ciclosportivo N.A. will provide a full refund to registrants with order numbers 1034 or less if the company cancels a Gran Fondo due to lack of demand. For order numbers greater than 1034, Ciclosportivo N.A. reserves the right to enroll riders in open events; the company has also waived the fee it charges to transfer registrations to another rider.

“With few exceptions our sponsorship campaign is complete, and we are in the process of finalizing some administrative matters,” spokeswoman D’Abria Versace explains. “We have full-time staff working to build world-class events, but the success of our Gran Fondo are contingent on three things in part: riders telling their cycling friends; riders telling their cycling friends; and, riders telling their cycling friends.” To learn more about Ciclosportivo N.A. Gran Fondo Boulder, Steamboat and Vail events, please visit their blogsite at www.ciclosportivo.blogspot.com, or follow the company’s latest-breaking news on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CiclosportivoNA.

CICLOSPORTIVO N.A.
Ciclosportivo N.A. is a Colorado-based marketing firm dedicated to promoting authentic Italian cycling celebrations and bicycle life through the organization of special events. Ciclosportivo N.A. bicycle celebrations scheduled for 2010 include Gran Fondo and SuperCorsa™ events in Boulder, Steamboat and Vail. Ciclosportivo N.A. is also tentatively planning a L'Eroica-styled event and The Race of the Falling Leaves outside Boulder, Colorado. www.ciclosportivo.blogspot.com

A Gran Fondo is a mass-start timed event. Some people will race it but others will ride it for the fun or challenge (think Triple Bypass). Expectations of non-racers are going to be different - they want and need regular food stops and sag vehicle support. It's going to take some money to put on an event like this so I can see why they need to reach a certain number of registrations sooner than later, or else they'll have to cancel. I question whether a first-year event can really be as big as they want these events to be and whether their marketing is adequate to reach beyond the typical race crowd.

Other GFs have celebrity appeal so getting Bahati might work. There are a lot of great races/rides in Colorado, so I am not sure what or how this one sets itself apart from others. The Triple is a mainstay, there's a bunch of centuries out there and there tends to be groups of people that treat these events as races. I'm not sure how this one differs from anything else, maybe someone could explain.

303cycling LLC is dedicated to Colorado cycling news in the Boulder and Denver area. We cover Denver bike racing, Boulder bike Racing, Colorado cyclocross, Colorado mountain biking, Denver bike commuting and other cycling news. In addition, we also host Colorado's cycling calendar which covers all cycling events from racing to bike touring and even to community events like Bike to work day. And don't forget about the recently added Colorado Road Racing Forum along with the Boulder Velodrome page If you have any news you would like to post on 303cycilng please Post It. Thank you for reading!